DPP urged to replace both Mutharika and Chimulirenji

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been urged to replace both President Peter Mutharika and his runningmate Everton Chimulirenji in the fresh elections.

According to social commentator Lyson Sibande, Mutharika is no longer an appealing brand and cannot generate the needed votes.

“The customers or voters are not willing to spend their money or ballots on such a product or candidate anymore because they do not trust the product to meet their expectations and needs,” he said.

He added that DPP strategists need to advise the party to either rebrand Mutharika or replace him with another candidate who will be more appealing and inspiring to regain voters’ confidence.

“Unfortunately it is too late to rebrand Mutharika as fresh elections might be held in less than 5 months. Additionally, the Mutharika brand is so damaged that it would only take heavenly intervention to bring the brand back into the lifecycle,” he said.

Mutharika and Chimulirenji were DPP presidential candidate and runningmate respectively in the 2019 presidential elections where they won with 38.57 percent of the votes cast.

But earlier this month, the Constitutional Court nullified the 2019 presidential elections saying the outcome was affected by widespread and grave irregularities. The court ordered the Malawi Electoral Commission to hold fresh elections.

Recent reports have indicated that Mutharika will represent the DPP as presidential candidate and has offered the runningmate position to Atupele Muluzi of the United Democratic Front.